I’m A Dirty Dinosaur by Janeen Brian

Title: I’m a Dirty DinosaurAuthor: Janeen BrianIllustrator: Ann JamesGenre: Picture BookAge: ChildrenIs This Part of a Series?: No

*I received a copy of this book as part of the consultant’s kit when I became an Independent Consultant for Usborne Books & More

Summary:
A cute little book about a dinosaur who is dirty and likes it that way! The reader gets to follow him as he gets different body parts dirty using different motions (like stomping versus sliding).

Overall Impression:
It is brightly colored, with cute illustrations and some fun rhyming and actions.

The Nitty Gritty:
There are quite a few good things about this book: the drawings are cute (although very simple–but it totally works for this book), the actions the dirty dinosaur does just beg to be acted out by the child (and parent!), and the colors used in the lettering are super bright and catchy. The rhythm of the words and even the rhyming makes it almost impossible to sit still while reading this book; you can practically hear the clomping footsteps of the dinosaur as you read.

As a mother, I also like the size and shape of the book and the thickness and feel of the pages. This isn’t a board book, but the pages are much thicker than your average picture book. They should have no problem holding up to the rougher handling of a child who isn’t used to turning real pages yet–or who turns back and forth between favorite pages with high frequency.

On the negative side–and these are small negatives, really–I have issues with the layout of the book. I don’t have any suggestions for how to improve it, but the way it is currently set up (in a three page pattern of: I’m a dirty dinosaur with a dirty [body part], a rhyme which includes how he doesn’t wash the body part and instead just stomps [or some other action] about, and a page with a repetition of the action [“stamp, stamp, stamp, stamp, stamp and stamp about”]. That means that there is no pattern to which side of the book a particular type of page is on. I know, I know. Minor, right? But it bothers me when I can see the old action on the left hand side of the book and it has moved on to the new body part in the same spread. Perhaps I would have been happier if the action-repetition page was a larger, two-page spread.

Goodreads Rating: 3.82 Stars (77 Ratings)Amazon Rating: 5 Stars (2 Reviews)UBAM Rating: 5 StarsMy Son’s Rating: 1,000 Stars
I like this book because it is on dinosaurs and (SPOILER!) at the end he gets clean like a clean little boy like me. I am super glad; I LOVE we have it! I think it is for both females and males. I think it is for 6 through 9 year olds because I think 6 year olds are normally able to read this. [[Bookwyrm’s Note: There will certainly be some 6 year olds who can read this book, but there will also be plenty of six year olds who can’t read this. None of the words are particularly difficult, but there is definitely a need to pay attention to the words: there are times when sniff and snuff are right next to each other, for example. Not difficult, but easy to miss if reading quickly.]] I would say little kids would LOVE it because it would remind them of themselves, even though they can’t read it.My Daughter’s Rating: 16 Stars (One for each letter in the title)
It is called I’m a Dirty Dinosaur so that they can learn that if they get dirty and their moms or dads tell them to take a bath they know to take a bath to be clean. I like this book because…where’s the tum tum? (And then she read the dirty tum pages to me). Because that’s why!My Rating: 4 Stars
A good book and I’m fine with reading it to my kids multiple times (which I have definitely had to do), but the fact that it triggers my OCD some keeps me from downright loving it. More importantly, the book lacks a clear “message” to give it a bigger impact with my children. Again, nothing really wrong with the book, but just enough to keep me from loving it.